Inside Barwon Prison: Violent jail house bashings, prison stabbings and inexperienced officers

A former experienced Barwon Prison officer says more needs to be done to protect employees following a recent surge of assaults on prison staff.

Brett Burns, a former prison officer at Barwon Prison, says more needs to be done to help protect prison officers. Picture: Alison Wynd

A surge in assaults on prison officers has raised alarm bells, shedding light on the dire consequences of a system grappling with severe staffing shortages, communication breakdowns, and a host of systemic issues.

Brett Burns worked at Barwon Prison for 15 years and said escalating violence was not only a result of inadequate staffing levels, but was further exacerbated by a lack of effective communication channels, insufficient training for personnel, and an increasingly toxic organisational culture.

Mr Burns said the increase in assaults on staff occurred because of staff shortages during Covid which has led to a lot of mistakes being made.

“There’s a lot of inexperienced people acting in roles that shouldn’t be in those roles when they don’t have the experience to do those roles, or the smarts to do those roles,” Mr Burns said.

“The more mature prison officers with experience bore the extra burden of attempting to keep staff safe, this became too heavy and the increase in staff assaults began to occur.

“Staff within Barwon began to look for other employment, training came to a halt as staff were not allowed to get together in large groups, and there was an increase in inexperienced staff coming off new recruitment squads.

“We’re a modern age prison and the prisoners have grown with society, but the actual prison hasn’t.”

Brett Burns, a former prison officer at Barwon Prison, says more needs to be done to help protect prison officers. Picture: Alison Wynd

Prison bashings, violent stabbings, faeces being thrown at inmates, as well as prison officers being assaulted, are just some of the horrors employees are subjected to.

According to the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), there have been 10 reported incidents of assaults on staff at the Grevillea Unit at Barwon Prison since 2021.

At the Grevillea Unit, three people have been on extended work leave since 2021 after an assault, while one officer received multiple punches to the head and body.

New prison officers working full-time at Barwon Prison start on a base salary of $58,358 – plus standard penalty rates and overtime

Mr Burns said it was unfair prison officers at Barwon did not earn more money than those working at lower security facilities.

“They’re working in the state’s maximum security prison, high security units, management units (and are) dealing with the worst of the worst,” he said.

“They don’t get any more than the prison officer that works at Langi Kal Kal Prison on an open farm.”

Mr Burns said the shift work for officers was not family-friendly.

“In 2008, the union at Barwon Prison signed a deal that we would work a nine hour day, which meant the average prison officer would start at 7.30am and finish at 4.23pm,” he said.

“This is not family-friendly for school drop off or pick up and women that were employed by corrections found it difficult to manage their home life and working life.

“One of the Department of Corrections values is that there is a ‘work life balance’. This is very difficult to maintain with the afternoon shifts and night shifts and the start and finish times being so random.”

Earlier this year, the court heard one prison officer at the Grevillea Unit had his head stomped on after an unprovoked attack which left him unconscious.

On August 23, last year, Neff Pritchard, an inmate at Barwon Prison, was in line to receive medication when he punched an officer to the face.

CCTV footage from the prison, played in court, showed Pritchard punching the victim unconscious.

The officer was then punched to the head a number of times, before he was stomped on.

In December 2023, a Lara man already serving a jail sentence for murder was imprisoned for a further two and a half years for assaulting a prison officer.

On February 15, 2023 Sigaragh Baea asked to be let out of his cell.

When prison officer Shaye Burns let him out, Baea unleashed an “unfathomable” assault on her.

Baea swung around with a clenched fist and hit the victim on the left side of her head, causing the female guard to lose her footing.

After being concussed from the first incident, she was then punched again before blacking out, and being further punched.

Although Ms Burns is unlikely to have any permanent neurological damage, she is at risk of permanent structural and functional brain damage in the context of chronic post-traumatic stress disorder.

An ankle injury, sustained during the attack, left Ms Burns confined to a wheelchair for six weeks.

In a victim impact statement read out in court, the female officer said she felt the emotional impact of the crime every single day.

“It is a dark cloud that feels like dread and heaviness is always close by,” she said.

“I have many questions that may go unanswered as I try to piece together what happened and why it happened,” the victim said.

“How could I possibly get so badly hurt by someone who I didn’t even know when showing empathy?”

Speaking after the sentence, Ms Burns said no person should come home to their family in a wheelchair.

“No employment should be subjected to violent encounters,” she said.

Neff Pritchard. Picture: Supplied

A Department of Justice and Community Safety spokesman said the safety and wellbeing of staff and the community remained a top priority.

“Any act of violence against our hardworking corrections officers is treated seriously and referred to Victoria Police,” he said.

“Corrections officers are supported with training on tactical options and de-escalation techniques, specialist units that undertake careful analysis of risks and intelligence, and ongoing assessment and placement of prisoners.”

In a bid to attract more custodial officers in prisons, including Barwon, a Corrections Officer Sign-on Bonus Scheme.

The program will incorporate two sign-on bonus payments of $2500 to all new staff after six months and then after 12 months of employment to retain new staff.

A WorkSafe spokeswoman said justice sector employers must take every reasonable step to protect workers and others in the workplace from risks to their health and safety.

“WorkSafe is committed to ensuring duty holders address the complex physical and mental welfare challenges faced by the justice sector,” the spokesman said.

Originally published as Inside Barwon Prison: Violent jail house bashings, prison stabbings and inexperienced officers